## (3) Approaches in the business community connecting the arterial industries with the venous industries

An industry that manufactures products is called an arterial industry, while an industry that conducts Recycling and the proper disposing of those products at the time of disposal is a venous industry. In order that a sound material-cycle society can be constructed, it is necessary to unite arterial industry and venous industry in the circle of circulation, so as to convert themselves into an integrated new cyclical industry by linking the venous industry with the current arterial industry, and in addition to promote the proper disposal of wastes and 3Rs at each unit.

We will now introduce from among a variety of activities already started, an approach to the integration of an arterial industry and a venous industry, namely the Japanese cement industry and sewage system industry, and an approach to the distribution channels connecting an arterial industry and a venous industry.

In the cement industry, various waste and by-products generated by other industries such as scrap tires and coal ashes are being stably processed in large quantities. Recently, due to technological developments (Figure 1-8) wastes from households such as sewage sludge and non-industrial garbage incineration ashes can now be accepted. For instance, generally sewage sludge used to be dumped after incineration, however, the ratio of dumping is decreasing by the introduction of recycling processes for producing cement. Although heavy metals, chlorine, and phosphorus are found in sewage sludge, quality and environmental protection are maintained so as not to influence the quality of cement or the environment around the cement factory. Although production volume has fallen, due to the downturn in public investment and the recent economic trend, the cement industry is endeavoring to accept waste material so that they may contribute to build a sound material-cycle society. It is expected that the ratio of waste material contained within cement resources shall become higher, and stricter quality and environmental protection management will be needed so that the amount and types of possible waste material accepted may be increased in the future. (Figure 1-8: Breakdown of Waste Material and By-products contained in Cement).

Recently, the price of raw materials used for fertilizer has soared caused by economic development in the emerging nations, including China and India and the worldwide increase of grain production affected by the biofuel boom. The influence of such price-hiked fertilizers is also being felt in our country, as all phosphorus, which is a key ingredient of fertilizer, must be imported from abroad. Therefore attention is being paid to the recovery of phosphorus from waste material. It is claimed that a half of all imported phosphorus has been flowing into the sewage system in Japan and on the one hand, most of the recyclable sewage sludge has been used for construction material and on the other hand from now on, it will be necessary to promote the collection and utilization of phosphorus out of sewage water or sewage sludge. Referring to Gifu City, previously the incinerated ashes of sewage sludge were modified and used as bricks, but now after testing for detoxification and the possible collection of ashes as a phosphorus fertilizer, the city has started to build a facility for such processing in Year 2008 and after test operations is scheduled to manufacture, distribute and sell from Year 2010.

(Figure 1-9: Collection of Phosphorus from Incineration of Sewage Sludge).

Figure 1-8 Breakdown of Waste Material and By-products contained in Cement

Figure 1-9 Collection of Phosphorus from Incineration of Sewage Sludge